The task of essay writing in the UPSC CAPF exam falls in its II paper. The essay carries a total score of 80 marks. Moreover, the word limit for it is of 800 words. Therefore, we have discussed the tips and tricks for writing an impressive essay in the UPSC CAPF exam that carries the chances of scoring well for you in the exam. These tips on UPSC CAPF Essay Writing will really go a long way for you.
In a nutshell, the candidates must follow the order as mentioned below, for producing an engaging essay. This order is as follows:
- Firstly, the introduction
- Then, the background information/historical information about the topic.
- Thirdly, following the above step by a light discussion on the main idea conveyed by the topic
- Then, the examples/influences of the event/personality discussed in the topic of the current circumstances
- Moreover, the positivity about the event/personalities in the topic.
- Also, the negativity about the events/actions of the personalities (a light mention would suffice).
- And, the suggested improvements/reforms
- Finally, the conclusion of the essay.
But speaking for producing deep effects, following strategy produced in the form of points will enhance your art of essay writing. These are as follows:
Prepare a sketch of your ideas
Prepare a writing plan in 15 to 20 minutes. In the UPSC CAPF exam when devising the strategy for writing the essay the candidate should first take around 15 or 20 minutes to think well about the subtopics or subheadings he or she is going to include in his or her essay. This is important as only the relevant mentions will enhance the effect of your essay and produce an engaging effect on its readers. For example, suppose you have been asked to write an essay on the father of the nation Mahatma Gandhi. The natural flow of thoughts will include various remarkable achievements of Gandhi regarding his freedom struggle. Following thoughts may fill your mind regarding this topic, then:
- Gandhi went to England to study law. He went to South Africa to practice it.
- Time (date, month and year) and place of Gandhi’s birth.
- Partition etc.
- Taking place of the IInd round of Gandhi-Irwin roundtable conference.
- Gandhi came back to India and began the freedom struggle.
Recall for the missed points and prioritize all the points
If now you think that you have finished the act of thinking well on the topic and should begin now, I may make you recall that you have missed a key point from Gandhi’s life. An effective compare and contrast essay outline encourages readers to question their preconceived notions about societal stereotypes. This incident is that of Gandhi’s Champaran Indigo struggle when he actively involved himself in the freedom struggle. So, for example, I shall show you that you can include this point as under:
- Gandhi went to England to study law. He went to South Africa to practice it.
- Time (date, month and year) and place of Gandhi’s birth.
- Partition etc.
- Taking place of the IInd round of Gandhi-Irwin roundtable conference.
- Gandhi came back to India and began the freedom struggle.
- Got the burning desire to push the freedom struggle with greater zeal because of the Champaran incident.
But, this act of forgetting important topics or events of our essay brings us to our next step. This step is that of prioritizing the subtopics of our essay.
Prioritise the important elements and events of the essay
In this section, a candidate needs to prioritize his or her mentionable events topics and elements of his/her essay. Incorporating the lesson from the topic our prioritization of elements and events of the essay would look like as:
- Firstly, the time (date, month and year) and place of Gandhi’s birth.
- Secondly, Gandhi went to England to study law. He went to South Africa to practice it.
- Thirdly, he came back to India and begun the freedom struggle.
- Then, he got the burning desire to push the freedom struggle with greater zeal because of the Champaran incident.
- Also, the taking place of the IInd round of Gandhi-Irwin roundtable conference.
- Last, but not the least, the issue of partition etc.
Decorate and Improve
It is important to adorn your essay with the following things if you want it to remain highly impactful on its readers. We are discussing these points in the form of questions like, have you included any:
- Famous quotes regarding the personality/topic of the essay?
- Current event related to the topic?
- Person(s) that you need to mention in relation to the topic?
- Historical event related to the topic?
What not to write in your essay?
- When writing about the government, don’t criticize it but only it’s policies. And also, this shouldn’t be touched too deep. Only a slight mention is enough.
- Again, discourage yourself for only finding faults with the government policies without suggesting reforms from your side.
- If writing on a famous personality, don’t involve too deeply in criticizing their actions or affairs or scandals (Suresh Kalmadi for Commonwealth scam, A Raja for the 2G scam).
The exception to this is the front of the foreign policy of the nation. On this front, it’s very much appropriate to name the foreign minister and the Prime Minister of that time as India’s foreign policy has had influences of various Prime Ministers.
- Don’t mention any political party/ organization with its name. Also, neither eulogize/criticize it (BJP did this and Congress did that).
- Do not involve yourself in mudslinging or hero worship for any personality, whether you hate or love him/her. Instead, give your balanced view.
- These precautions should also be practiced when writing on sensitive issues like religion, culture, language, literature, states etc.
Suggested bits of advice
The art of essay writing can’t be mastered in a day or two. It requires many efforts for a long time. These efforts have been listed below as:
- Develop a habit to read editorials of various newspapers of repute. Some of these are The Times of India, The Hindu, Dainik Jagran, Dainik Hindustan etc.
- Similarly read and study articles on current affairs from magazines like Frontline, Yojana, Kurukshetra, etc.
- Watch television/online shows related to news/current affairs on Doordarshan, LSTV, RSTV, various news channels, via online.
- Go through previous years’ topics and practice writing essays on them, on the lines provided by us, here.
Practice Essays
Some of the hot, current issues to write essays upon are given below. Practice these and others on the lines provided in this article and look forward to good scores:
- Going organic in agriculture
- Women’s role in Indian Defence Services
- Achieving a cashless rural economy
- Soil health card scheme – A hit or a miss?
- Repercussions of Social Media on Indian masses
- Child labor and the role of international labor office
- Sardar Patel’s role in India’s freedom movement and afterward
- Net neutrality is a must for digital India
- Disaster Management System in India
- Does the need to wish to die (Euthanasia) apply in India?
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